I'm Stronger than You
by LoveStoryMermaid
Summary: Elena thought her training with Rick had made her ready to take on vampires who would hurt her. Damon disagrees. But, instead of arguing with her, Damon takes it upon himself to train Elena. As a human and then again as a vampire.
1. Training: Human

I'm Stronger Than You

Damon had been staring at Elena for about a minute with a smirk, completing his dubious expression. "I think I'm just going to start calling you Buffy."

Elena glared at him. "Hilarious. Rick's been training me. I can do this."

"I think it's sweet you think you're tough enough to take on a vampire who's centuries older than you. Incredibly stupid, but sweet. Alright then, let's see it. Show me what the oh wise Sensai Rick has been teaching you."

Still glaring, Elena focused on Damon. Rick's stake punch was strapped to her arm and Elena eyed where she was planning on hitting Damon: stomach was the easiest target that wouldn't kill him. She threw the punch as hard as she could. She felt a steel grasp on her wrist from where Damon grabbed it in addition to a tug followed by a weight lifted off her wrist.

"Very dead," Damon rebuked. He'd taken her wrist, yanked off the stake punch that had fired upon hitting the floor, and pulled Elena around so that she was facing away from him with her neck exposed. "You picked the biggest target and looked directly at it. Way too obvious."

Elena struggled against Damon's grip. It wasn't painful, but enough for her to feel pressure and know she wasn't going anywhere. "Fine. Let go of me. I'll try again."

"How many times do I have to tell you you're not going to overpower a vampire? Make me let go."

"You just said," Elena retorted, frustrated.

Damon sighed, but didn't let go yet. "Yes. You can keep trying to break my grip all you want. It's not going to happen if I don't let you. So, what's another option?"

Elena looked across the room. The stakes still would have come in handy, but she'd lost them as well in this attempt. But…Damon had only grabbed her one hand in this scenario. She used her other hand to grab the stake she'd slipped into her belt and mimicked jamming the back end against Damon's inside knee.

Damon let her go. "Better. Wouldn't have worked because you would have already been dead, but lesson learned: learn to think outside the box and have a backup plan."

"Right. Don't go for the obvious. My best defense is the element of surprise." Elena nodded, knowing Damon was right and rebuking herself. Rick had told her the same thing.

"Try again." Damon invited, and considered, "And if we're practicing, might as well practice right. Don't want you to get used to not following through your movement."

Elena shook her head, "No. You're right. I'm being stupid." She sat down, "I can't win, not against Klaus."

Damon sighed and came to take a seat beside her. "I meant it, I do admire your spir-" he was cut off when Elena jammed her stake into Damon's right chest, jumping back.

"OW! You little…" but his face broke into disbelieving laugh as he pulled the stake out. "Good. That was good."

Elena smiled in triumph with the praise, but maintained her spot where she'd sprinted off to.

"Alright, but don't let it get to your head." In the next second Damon was in front of her again. He threw a punch ridiculously slow, but still stopped it from colliding with Elena's head. He sighed again. "Even throwing an attack, you need to remember you're on the defensive side of the fight. Learn to anticipate."

"How? You move too fast. I'll never be able to see that."

Damon sighed again. "Elena, let's be honest. You get caught in a hand to hand fight with Klaus, you're dead. What more can I do to prove that to you? All I'm trying to grant you is the slim chance you can stay one step ahead of him." With zero force behind it, Damon thrust out his right hand next to Elena's head. "I just threw that punch. What's the one move you can be sure won't be immediately next?"

"Another punch from that hand."

"Good. It'll take less than a second to throw another one with that hand, but time all the same. More likely would be what?"

"A kick or punch from the other." Elena darted behind Damon and picked up a grenade she's stored.

"Good."

Elena and Damon moved to exchanging mock punches, though he instructed Elena again to not pull any of hers. A few she managed to land and Damon tried not to laugh when she grimaced down at her hand. "You do realize I barely felt that?"

"It's stronger than when I first did it with Rick," Elena defended.

"Good for Rick. I'm not him. And I'm not human. So it doesn't matter. For the millionth time, Buffy, you're not strong enough." Damon picked her up and threw her onto her back against the floor, hard enough that she felt it, but not hard enough to do any real damage.

Elena winced, but stared at Damon looking down at her. Her first instinct was to move away and get up, but he'd be expecting that. So, she stayed still, daring to let her eyes show the shock she had actually felt with the force of how hard she'd landed.

Damon went to take a mildly concerned step forward before he stopped, approving as he realized what she was trying to plan. "Nice try. Might work once, not twice. Get up."

Elena smiled, hopping up. They spent the next several minutes continuing to exchange punches, focused on anticipation and never stopping. Still slowly, Damon threw a left hook that she blocked and even managed to hop out of the way of the following kick. Never full speed, of course, but he had started moving faster. He never let anything connect more than a light touch, unless she had been stupid and even then, he wasn't trying to hurt her. But, even at quarter speed, for each time he did connect, more and more Elena surprised at him at how often he didn't.

"Good," Damon granted, "It's important you know I still say I'm humoring you, but you're doing better. That was good, Elena."


	2. Training: Vampire

I'm Stronger Than You

Elena had to smile at the memory of the last time Damon stared her over like this, even if it had been a lifetime ago. "I told you, Damon, I remember what I learned from Rick and Stefan's been working with me."

"So you think dodging a few arrows and breaking cinder blocks makes you ready to take down Katherine Pierce?" Damon all but mocked. "Congratulations. You're exactly as strong as any vampire older than a month. Katherine is _500 years_ old, Elena."

"I am not useless, Damon," Elena challenged, "I need to do this."

"I never said that." Damon argued and softened, "Elena, you have more determination than pretty much anyone I've met. But, you're not the first person to go on a revenge mission against Katherine Pierce. Trust me on this. I do get it. I'm just saying Stefan is too nice to be a good measure of how ready you are."

"Then what is?"

A smile played against Damon's lips. "You're think you're ready. Alright, show me."

Elena ran to knock Damon back, but ended up running into the wall when he dodged her. Damon tried not to laugh as he walked over. "You still haven't learned to remember to anticipate. Katherine's a master at that, so better remember fast."

He'd barely finished the sentence before Elena threw an uppercut that collided with his jaw, knocking him back. Damon threw an elbow to her stomach with enough force to sting. She didn't let it distract her, though. He'd grant that she was faster at matching punches than he'd expected, but he still landed more than she did. She returned a punch to his stomach that he blocked.

"You're too obvious about where you're planning to attack. You can't help but give it away at the last second, but don't look at me or where you're aiming. Look at my shoulders and be aware of your surroundings to know where you need to be."

Damon aimed for her hip, but threw a right hook that she narrowly avoided. Elena picked up on the instruction quickly enough. He actually had to start paying attention at what she was throwing. She managed to surprise him, but jumping up to land on his shoulders, squeezing her legs around his neck with a mischievous smile as she played with his hair.

"You know, when you decide to mix it up, you're pretty good," he conceded, but easily managed to toss her off him. In narrowly avoiding her follow up kick, he'd left his head exposed. Still, though, Elena underestimated her strength. The punch had been well placed, but it wasn't enough to knock him off balance. She threw another punch hard to his head that he blocked, catching her wrist and throwing her across the room, breaking a chair.

Elena blinked back a few tears and took a few breaths, holding her side and not moving for a minute. Damon darted across the room, suddenly concerned. "Elena, I'm-" he was cut off as Elena had kicked out one her legs to flip Damon over and grabbed one of the makeshift chair stakes, holding it over his heart. She wiped away the fake tears with a smile, "And you still haven't learned to fall for manipulation."

Damon chuckled, almost impressed as they helped each other up. "I never said I was perfect. I've been terribly unsuccessful against that bitch my entire life." Damon waved the stake in his hand. "My point is I'm still stronger than you, Elena. And Katherine's even stronger, not to mention a much better manipulator."

"I can beat her, Damon." Elena protested.

"Prove it," Damon challenged, slamming Elena against the floor hard enough to knock the wind out her, one foot on her arm, the other pressing against her throat as he held her stake over her heart.

Elena was gasping for breath, meeting his gaze with pleading eyes. "Damon—I—"

He was tempted to let her up, let her know she'd be fine. But, Elena wasn't really an idiot. He may be stronger, but Elena was right that that would be Katherine's move. Instead, he simply moved position to take his foot off of her throat and was on top of her, pinning both her outspread arms with each of his knees. Elena met his gaze, sweat glistening off his face and hair unkempt. She stretched up to kiss him. Smiling, Damon allowed himself to lean in and return the kiss, letting the moment last. But, then he did pull back, chuckling, and not having released her arms. "You're not going to be able to seduce Katherine that way. And my point remains. Try and get out."

Elena squirmed beneath him, glaring at him while being torn between just how damn hot he looked and frustrated that he was proving him right when it came to the whole point of this exercise. Because, try as hard as she could to buck him off, she couldn't budge.

"Come on, Elena," he encouraged, "You can do better than that."

She realized she was being too obvious. Intentionally or not, Damon had left her legs free. She curled her legs up to kick him in the chest, surprised when he only let out a grunt. "Oh, come on!" She protested.

Damon looked sympathetic for a minute. "Nice try. And if your first plan doesn't work, because it invariably never does, are you just gonna give up?"

Elena relaxed and stopped fighting for a moment. For the briefest moment, Damon hesitated and she used the millisecond of lighter pressure to kick her legs around him and flip him over. She had to admit, it wasn't as easy as she'd thought it would be.

"Not bad," Damon granted, staring up at her.

Elena took the compliment for a minute, before letting off and just lying next to Damon on the floor, taking his hand. "You're right."

He played with her fingers. "Mm. About what?"

"I'm not strong enough to beat Katherine." Elena shook her head. "But, Damon, I can't just let her win. She's destroyed my life."

"I know," he replied gently, stroking her hair back from her face and kissing her again, "Believe me, I know. And I never said anything about letting her win. I just said you need to be smarter about it. You're not without your own strengths, Elena, and if you let me and Stefan help, then maybe we have a real shot."


End file.
